PNM rate case heads to state Supreme Court as utility, advocacy group both appeal
Mar. 18—Public Service Company of New Mexico's most recent request for a rate increase appears to be headed to the state Supreme Court after the electric utility and an advocacy group both appealed state regulators' ruling in the case.
PNM filed an appeal Thursday challenging the January ruling from the Public Regulation Commission, which granted a much smaller rate increase than the company had requested in a case filed in fall 2022.
Meanwhile, Santa Fe-based New Energy Economy had appealed the decision weeks earlier — for very different reasons. The group argued commissioners didn't go far enough in slashing the utility's request.
In addition to granting PNM a smaller increase, commissioners prohibited the company from collecting about $85 million related to the coal-fired Four Corners Generating Station and clawing back about $38 million related to expired leases for nuclear power at the Palo Verde Generating Station in Arizona.
The rate case was decided by two members of the three-person commission after two weeks of hearings and thousands of pages of testimony and legal briefs were filed.
The utility filed an objection with the commission over its requirement for PNM to refund $38 million to customers related to the Palo Verde leases as well as changes to the company's capital structure.
PNM called the decision on Palo Verde leases "retroactive ratemaking" in a January motion for a rehearing.
PNM spokesman Ray Sandoval on Monday wrote in an email the utility filed its notice of appeal with the Supreme Court "to preserve important matters which we will outline in our statement of issues within the required timeframe."
New Energy Economy plans to argue the commission should have prohibited PNM from collecting many more millions of dollars related to the coal plant and the nuclear power leases.
The group maintained in a statement the commission should have disallowed about $160 million more from the utility for its decision to continue running the coal plant as well as about $96 million more related to the nuclear leases. The ruling "effectively allows PNM undue profits on an imprudent and wasteful resource decision at the expense of PNM ratepayers," the group said.
Neither PNM nor New Energy Economy had filed more detailed petitions for their appeals as of Monday.
PNM has appealed a handful of regulatory proceedings to the state Supreme Court in recent years, including the PRC's rejection of its proposed merger with Connecticut-based energy company Avangrid; a case involving rate credits related to the closure of the coal-fired San Juan Generating Station; and a pending challenge to the commission's rules for a statewide community solar program.
